harry reid saying the u.s. is going over the cliff. consumer confidence numbers are down. markets are roiled, and it's not surprising people are worried. but now factor in as tim geithner said that the debt ceiling would be reached by the end of the year. $16.4 trillion. extraordinarily measures. now, what does extraordinary measures mean? suzanne, i'll tell you. it means literally robbing peter to pay paul. shifting the money around. so that you can actually keep paying the bills before you hit the ceiling. all in all, i can't remember an end of a year, suzanne, when we've had two so serious issues affecting the u.s. economy all at the same time. >> it is worrisome. i wonder, richard, do we have any sense of how the markets, the global markets, are even reacting to the potential, the possibility that we'd go over the cliff? >> reporter: yes. at the moment, it is quite clear they are holding their nose from the stench of politics, and they are believing that politicians will do the right thing. i was talking to one u.s. congressman today. in fact, you must have talked to s